Bodycam footage that recently surfaced on social media showing the arrest of a Black Amazon driver is stirring controversy online.
The video shows a December 2023 encounter in the Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek, Georgia, between an officer and the delivery driver after police were called to a residential neighborhood over a dispute that broke out between several people.
At the beginning of the footage, viewers can see a Johns Creek police officer running toward a group of homeowners and the driver arguing in the middle of a cul-de-sac.
When the officer asks what’s happening, the frustrated driver yells that they’ve been messing around in his truck. One woman states that he spit in her face and the driver shouts over her, calling her claim a lie because he’s wearing a face mask over his mouth.
Immediately, the officer grabs the driver and cuffs him.
“What the f*** is you doing?!” the driver shouts. “I’m not even resisting or nothing.”
“You’re getting all up in their face and everything, I don’t need you trying to hit them or nothing,” the officer states.
The cop implores the driver to calm down and tell him what’s happening
“She ran into my f***ing truck! I’m trying to do my job! That’s what the f*** I’m trying to do,” the driver furiously shouts, visibly angered by how the encounter is playing out.
The clip cuts to the driver explaining to the cop that he tried to drop a package off on a front porch and take a picture, but a female homeowner refused to allow him to make the delivery properly, so he drove off with her parcels.
The driver said that when he began to drive away, the homeowner ran toward his truck and got into his vehicle, grabbed packages, and then walked off.
The altercation began when the driver attempted to stop the woman and then escalated when a man who appeared to be the woman’s husband got involved.
“Did you put hands on her?” the officer asks.
“No, I did not put hands on her! But her husband put hands on me, I don’t see him in cuffs!” the driver shouts back.
“Do you see how you’re acting compared to them right now?” the officer prompts.
“Because they the ones f***ing with me!” the driver yells.
A second video shows more police at the scene and the still-handcuffed driver explaining what happened.
“This is unnecessary,” the driver says while holding up his cuffed hands. “I never tried to fight them.”
In response, another officer repositions the handcuffs so they are behind the driver’s back.
“They’re not supposed to be in the front,” the cop says of the cuffs.
“They’re not supposed to be on me in the first place because I didn’t do s***,” the driver responds.
The clip cuts to the moment when multiple officers begin reviewing a video showing the confrontation between the homeowners and the driver. The contents of the video aren’t clear to viewers, but the officers vocalize their commentary.
They allege the driver was “egging” the altercation on and “pushed” one of the homeowners first before he was pushed back.
The officers don’t appear to discuss or investigate the driver’s claims that the woman interfered with his job duties, which is what instigated the altercation.
After reviewing the videos, the officers decide to impound the Amazon driver’s truck and arrest the driver for disorderly conduct.
Bodycam footage then shows them taking the driver into custody and explaining why he’s being arrested.
“I get that (the male homeowner) got in your face and everything, OK, man? But the problem is all of his stuff is reacting to you acting the way you did to his wife,” the officer states.
“I’m reacting-” the driver starts.
“To her jumping in the van,” the officer finishes. “I get that, man.”
“I’m the one doing my job; I’m the one who drove away from her; y’all forget that,” the driver states.
“You drove away at first, but you came back, man,” the officer responds.
“She took packages she wasn’t authorized to get,” the driver points out.
“Why didn’t you just call your supervisor, man?” the officer asks.
Most viewers were angered at the police response to the encounter and challenged the cops’ decision to arrest the driver.
“I definitely feel his frustration 100%,” one TikTok user wrote of the driver.
“100000% this is because he’s a ‘scary black man,'” a Reddit user commented.
Some people thought that if the driver had responded to the situation calmly, the police encounter would have ended differently.
“Keeping cool would’ve went a long way, but I understand his frustration,” someone else said.
“Cop did an absolute shite job at de-escalating this situation,” another person added. “Cuffs immediately? Instead of just simply separating the parties to talk one on one? Insane. Folks are trying to talk optics and respectability but it just feels like an excuse.”
